Help, my mcdojo is driving me nuts!

scohen0300 · Blue Belt

Part of this might seem like I’m only venting, so I apologize in advance.

As I stated in earlier posts, I work for a mcdojo. The pros are that I’m teaching martial arts (for the most part) and that I’m getting paid a lot more than any other job I’ve had and probably more than what I’d make if I left. My boss (the guy who put down the money to open the studio) and my coworker are also great people.

Today, I found out that I can’t promote MY students to black belt unless they pay an additional $50/month. In fact, they’ll only ever achieve their purple belt if they don’t our join the “black belt program.” When I asked, what if they can’t afford it? The answer was, “they can continue training, but they won’t be able to rank up any further.” Then, I confirmed, if that’s the case - they will never get their black belt. I can’t get behind this.

My hope, is that WHEN we are faced with a scenario where a hard working student can’t afford the dang black belt program, that we’ll be able to promote them anyway, without the need for them to pay a higher monthly rate. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s likely to happen.

How can I justify this? How can this franchise justify this? I grew up without money. If my Sensei (who would never do this) did this to me when I was younger, I would quit because I wouldn’t be able to afford it and I wouldn’t see a reason to keep training. I know, I know, belts don’t mean very much in the grand scheme of things. But what about the children? Isn’t this teaching them that regardless of how hard they work, they’ll never reach their goal unless they make enough money? Isn’t this straight up blasphemy to the martial arts?

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this. I feel so conflicted. If, or more likely, when, the situation pops up that a student can’t afford their black belt and there’s nothing I can do about that, my heart is going to shatter into a million pieces. That will be the day that I quit if I’m not fired for giving the student the belt that they EARNED, not the belt that they could afford.

What do I do?
What would you do?
Please, don’t give me some mystical “miyagi advice.” I’m asking for some guidance.

On a side note, I’m teaching people how to kick, punch, parry, and cover block. Along with “Krav Maga” that was taught to me over the course of 3 days, or no more than 9 hours. Other than that, I’ve never trained in Krav Maga a day in my life. 13 years of karate behind me and all I ever feel like now is a money driven, mcdojo running fraud.
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bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

It's sounds to me like you've got a real moral dilemma here. On the one hand, even though you don't agree with the system, you like to teach and it sounds like you offer positivity to these students. On the other hand, you don't agree with the policy and procedures of the organization. Do you keep teaching or not?

Are you teaching in your own school, or are you teaching in the main school where the CI that implemented all this is? If you are in your own school, you might be able to get away with promoting your own students, but perhaps only once before getting into trouble. And who knows what kind of legal trouble you could get into, especially if there is breach of some kind of contract.

I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do. But it sounds to me like you should seek to find a different school. You could try to present a case to the CI to change his money-making strategy, but I doubt that will happen. Eventually, someone isn't going to be able to afford the fees that is deserving, and someone undeserving will be able to pay the fees and move forward. This won't sit well with you. I say, start looking for alternatives and move on.

I'm really sorry to hear this.
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tatsujin · Orange Belt

ashworth · Brown Belt

Certainly a tough situation to be in, I'm afraid if your getting paid a decent amount for running a class you have to accept that there might be things you don't fully agree with.

If I was in that situation I would try find a different job, and try to find another club to join and hopefully teach for one day, the other option is setting up your own, but again you will probably need to find another job as you will probably not be making the money that you are on at the moment...
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crash · Orange Belt

back years ago in the 80's - 90's it was common for all gyms, martial arts studios, etc... to be by contract with financing. this is a business, for instructors to be paid, bills to be met, (rent is expensive in a desirable location) and a profit to be earned there has to be a set price for any business to make it. it wasnt un-common back then for any dojo to offer "programs" such as a bluebelt program and a blackbelt program, i havent seen this method in a while but it dousnt necessarily make a "mcdojo". sports, good gyms, personal training, etc... are expensive, not everyone is going to be able to afford them, sad, but that is the reality of the world. it is a business and in order for any business to operate properly there has to be a profit and a system of pricing and services. i personnaly would not charge for belt testings but a lot of places do. this is an expensive sport/hobby/training. there is a lot of equipment, uniforms, etc... to keep up with and then if you are into tournament's or the sport/competitive side of it there are the fees and travel for those. the bottom line though is what you are comfortable with. you know what your school offers, classes, training quality etc... and only you can decide is it worth it in your eyes and are you comfortable and happy in your position. if not then you must decide whether to stay or move on and start your own system/school in the way you would like.

sensei8 · KF Sensei

From what I've read in your OP, you've already answered your own question of what you should do.

Some would say that this is a Catch-22 situation. I wholeheartedly disagree with that mindset because INTEGRITY should be the ruling order of the day...every day.

As a business, they don't have to justify anything...much...if it at all. What tatsujin's post speaks about in this regard is dead on. There's no integrity when the bottom line is concerned. All there is is the profit line, and businesses will do whatever they can to generate all of the profit that they can.

Oh sure, every business should have the highest integrity possible, but that's not how it is at all. Not sure if customers care about business integrity as strong as they do for the businesses pricing structure. Businesses that have kicked integrity to the curb sleep as well as those businesses who've not kicked integrity to the curb.

So, I'd find somewhere else to teach without haste whatsoever.

Customers make the difference with what they decide to allow or not allow.

LionsDen · Orange Belt

Have you suggested that many students may quit and this policy will likely result in a net loss of income over time?

LionsDen · Orange Belt

Also I gotta say, I was the martial arts program director for an athletic facility, and it was a mcdojo that they ran with the last guy, but I was lucky enough to have about 80% free reign to do as I pleased.

However they wanted testings done for everyone during regular class time, regardless of how long they’ve been training or how well they’re progressing.
Luckily they don’t charge extra for testing, but I thought this was a generally poor tactic as it made me feel pressured to pass people regardless, or have to deal with the loss of confidence resulting from the failure.

One option is that if you run into such a situation is you could discreetly discuss the issue with the student (if 18+) or their parent and offer to pay that extra $50.
Or approach the owner and ask about setting up a jar or something people added a few bucks to here and there that would be used to help pay for the BB program of under privileged students.

There’s always options, sometimes you just need to think outside of the box to find them though.

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